Kojo Asamoa-Caesar wins Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District Democrat primary

Newcomer, Kojo Asamoa-Caesar has won his 1st District Democrat primary by more than 25 percentage points over Mark Keeter for the right to face incumbent Rep. Kevin Hern this November. Hern, a Republican, is joined by Independent Evelyn Rogers on the ballot.

In celebrating the landmark victory, he tweeted “A hundred years ago, this wouldn’t have been possible. But today, because of all of you who exercised your right to vote, and voted for change—this is possible. Change is possible and change is coming. Thank you! Onwards to November”

Kojo Asamoa-Caesar is a first-generation American, the son of a certified nursing assistant and a taxi driver who were drawn to the United States from Ghana by the call of the American Dream. Driven by his mother’s strength and encouragement, Kojo excelled in school and went on to study Communications at Old Dominion University, where he was elected student body president and founded T.R.U.S.T., an organization dedicated to developing young adults as positive change agents in their communities.

Kojo then went on to study law at the College of William & Mary, the oldest law school in the United States. After graduating, rather than entering a career in law, Kojo decided to join Teach for America, which brought him to Tulsa as a kindergarten teacher in 2013. His students  saw significant growth in their reading scores, and he was ultimately named Teacher of the Year at his school site after just his second year of teaching.

After spending time studying education policy as a Fellow with the Urban Leaders Fellowship, Kojo was asked to serve as the founding principal of Greenwood Leadership Academy, an elementary school in North Tulsa, founded in 2017 as part of a partnership between the Met Cares Foundation and Tulsa Public Schools. There he recruited, hired and managed a staff of 25 to operate a school serving over 250 students.

Most recently, Kojo served as interim executive director at 36 Degrees North, a co-working space that serves as Tulsa’s basecamp for entrepreneurs, serving over 500 members representing over 47 different industries.

“I love hanging out with my wife, Onikah, and our two dogs, Zazu and Simba. We love watching Netflix and HBO shows like House of Cards, Insecure, and Game of Thrones. I also love reading books on great people and how they became that way, and I’ve recently fallen in love with playing golf on the weekends and 2K19 when it’s too cold outside”

He lives in the Ogan’s Circle neighborhood with his wife, Onikah, newborn baby girl Hadassah, and their two rescue dogs, Simba and Zazu.